“I know where we’re at,” the coach said. “I can see clearly. But... do all the legwork you want, have all the dinosaurs running in my head as much as you want. You still gotta look after the game.”

Dinosaurs?

“Oh, some days, yeah. There’s big ones. Jurassic Park.”

WEAR AND TEAR

Never mind trying to make the playoffs. Noel says they’ve already started.

He sees it in the wear and tear on his players.

“This is way different,” he said. “And there’s no other way to compare this year. It is like a 48-game playoff. That sounds silly, because that’s too many games. But that’s exactly what it’s like. It’s really taxing.

“I see it all the time in there. Just the wear and tear. In a normal year you don’t see it like this. It’s unbelievable.”

The Jets have been reluctant to blame bad streaks on fatigue.

But Kyle Wellwood said it was obvious they were out of gas on their last road trip.

“The guys just didn’t have the energy to mount anything,” Wellwood said. “You saw last game we just had more energy than the other team. That should continue with the schedule we have right now.”

The Jets have set their sights high for this six-game home stand.

“We looked at our home schedule here and said we’ve got to win every game,” Wellwood said. “We want to get a point at least in every game.”

GAME OF INCHES

As happy as he is playing the role of grinder, Eric Tangradi knows he’s come oh-so-close to scoring a few more.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t driving me crazy a little bit,” Tangradi said. “There’s a few I’ve watched on film that a couple inches this way or that way, I could have a few goals here.”

He has one in 34 games.

AROUND THE GLASS

College free agent signing Juho Olkinuora, a goalie, inked an amateur tryout offer with the St. John’s IceCaps of the AHL, Wednesday... Oakbank, Man., product Quinton Howden is ready to play his first NHL game in his home province... The Panthers list of walking wounded includes G Jose Theodore, RW Kris Versteeg and D Ed Jovanovski. Florida has lost 265 man games injury, the Jets 147.